The end of a world (as we know it)
and some of us are not fine...
UArts closure
The sudden closing of the University of the Arts here in Philadelphia has left a lot of people in various states of anger, shock, sadness, disbelief, you name it, including myself. The short story is that UArts administration announced on May 31st that the 150 year old art school will be closing for good on June 7th. That was the first time faculty, students and staff were hearing about the loss of jobs and education.
There hasn’t been any significant communications from the administration about what caused the closing. Just a vague notice stating in part, “UArts has been in a fragile financial state, with many years of declining enrollments, declining revenues, and increasing expenses…we could not overcome the ultimate challenge we faced: with a cash position that has steadily weakened, we could not cover significant, unanticipated expenses. The situation came to light very suddenly. Despite swift action, we were unable to bridge the necessary gaps.”
Just like that, one week and it’s all over. Good luck, we won’t see you next time.
What I can’t fathom is the callous way in which the university chose to handle this situation. Students, faculty and staff were given no warning, no time to process this change and there was no contingency plan for getting students into other schools, faculty and staff had no time to reasonably find other employment without the major problems that they’re facing now.
My connection to UArts is as a creative community member. I never taught there, but I personally know many of the teaching faculty, have given talks to classes (in person and virtual) and have mentored UArts students as studio interns. My anger about how this has been handled feels personal.
It seems to me that while declining enrollment, declining revenues and increasing expenses are major hurdles to overcome, especially in the wake of the pandemic, that there should have been a plan in place for this scenario. How it played out smacks of mismanagement and a careless, cavalier attitude about the people who made UArts what it is: students and faculty.
Schools are closing all over the place in the U.S., particularly smaller ones. It’s nothing new in terms of academia. The blatant disregard for the professors’ livelihoods and student’s education in this case demands some serious answers and accountability. Neither of which I think will be forthcoming anytime soon.
There’s more in this article from The Art Newspaper: Philadelphia’s University of the Arts Suddenly closes…
Here’s a link to a GoFundMe page to support UArts Students and Faculty. Donate, if you can and/or share the link to your networks so there’s some support for those affected by this closure.
All Night Party catalogue: Four years late and a few days late, but still fresh
Almost two weeks ago, I received an email from Erin L. Lehman, co-curator, with J. Susan Isaacs, Professor Emerita, of “All Night Party”, a group show at Towson University in 2020 where I was one of six participating artists. Basically, Erin was relaying the information that the catalogues for the show were finally printed and ready to be shipped. As one can deduce, there were many delays, most of which were due to the pandemic and budgetary issues. I had just about forgotten about it, which I think was a good thing because I wasn’t left sitting on pins and needles waiting for it.
Anyway, I gave Erin my mailing address and waited. I was traveling when the catalogue was sent out, but there was someone here to look after mail. Long story, short, I returned home to see that the envelope for the catalogues had arrived, but no sign of the publications itself. Looking at the unsecured closing flap, I guessed that they must’ve fallen out somewhere along the way to the house. I told Erin about it and she offered to bring a new batch to me directly and that’s what happened. We had a good laugh about it and nice studio visit.
It’s really nice to see the finished work in a nice publication. This is one of a few small catalogues that my work is in and I’m very happy to have this one since it contains images of fairly recent work. Plus, the work itself, Until The Break of Dawn, represents a facet of my work that’s outside of standard painting. I call it a drawing installation, which it is, but it also straddles lines between drawing, painting and sculpture.
Until The Break of Dawn came together over the course of two days and on site. I was given a movable wall that I drew on with acrylic markers and attached drawings on paper, frosted mylar, silver mylar and clear acetate. This was the second of its kind, following on the heels of You Don’t Know The Whole Thing, made in 2019. Like that one, I made a bunch of drawings ahead of time and made more once I got in the space and saw the size of the wall I was given. I like responding to materials and surfaces in situ because it makes the work that much more of that place and not something that I was just bringing into the space.
I’m really thankful to Erin and Susan for the opportunity to have been able to realize this piece. It gave me a freedom to stretch out beyond my usual practice and explore other avenues for creating work that is based in drawing, but not only that.
Until The Break of Dawn was my take on the memory of the free-flowing energy that can inhabit a party at a club where one can get lost in music, float from conversation to dancing to being an observer of it all.
The other artists in the show included: Dennis Beach, Bobby Coleman, Alex Ebstein, Dominie Nash and Mckinley Wallace III
You can learn more about “All Night Party” here: All Night Party-Towson University
Are there really coincidences?
I spent some time over the past week working on some new works on paper. The week before, I’d bought a roll of mixed media paper because I wanted to work on paper that was substantial and not too easy to tear. A couple of them tore a bit on the edges, but not tragically. Four of them appear in the top left of the grid above. I’ve already reworked one of them a bit. I’ll leave the rest alone for now, I think.
Funny thing about this group of photos, there are some connections that I didn’t intend to have here, and they showed up anyway. Before you ask, the works were done prior to the photos being taken. As I was going through my photos to choose some to add to this post, I couldn’t help but see some of the resemblances of colors, forms and general feelings between the photos and paintings on paper.
Everything I do artistically is influenced by the known world, so it makes sense that things like this happen. Nothing I come up with is entirely happenstance, things just don’t work that way. Subconsciously or not everything I see, feel and touch can be transmitted to my work in one form or another. In spite of the abstract nature of my paintings, I’m still filtering my experiences of my surroundings into the work. It’s hard not to.
There was a very short-lived point where I was trying as hard as I could to not have any references to my environment or how it affected me in my work. Needless to say, that was nonsense. It’s difficult to not have your experiences of your surroundings and the world, in general, not be a part of what you make. At least that’s how it’s been for me. When I let go of that narrow position, the work opened up and there were more possibilities for exploration.